Beauty and the Beast

22

Chenchita was sitting exactly where he left her when Narasimha returned.

Personally choosen wild flowers were brought for her. Some flowers they had brought from Indra's nandana vana. Some from Vaikuntha itself. Some from the vast Himalayan foothills.

Taking her by the small pond on the hill, he rubbed a paste over her arms and legs. Then over her face. Bathing her from the waters brought from Ganga, Yamuna, Saraswati, Sindhu, Narmada, Sindhu, Kaveri and Godavari. She splashed a little water over him while he bathed. He chuckled and it touched his heart. The familiarity of her childishness.

She changed into another clothes. The alta and anklets were still on her feet. He put the earrings. Braiding her hair along with a think garland made out of  jasmine flowers and blue water lilies. A thin waist belt was set over her waist. Then setting armlets around her arms. A garland of flowers was made and put around her neck. Flowers were decorated as anklets and put over the gold anklets.

He put the tilak over her forehead. Stopped to look at her. He felt his own heart beat go faster. The image of Chenchita was so close to Mahalakshmi that his heart naturally ran around her in circles. Perhaps it was exactly Lakshmi so deeply loved to decorate him.

She stared into his eyes as he stopped. His eyes seemed to hold such depth. The universe hiding within his eyes. All the 16 forms of arts out pouring through his eyes. In an odd way, they seemed like a mirror. As if she was looking at herself inside his eyes. The deep love within them for her. Like she was love itself instead of being the object of love. Then seeing the deep reflection of his own self deep with her.

"I worry that some day you'll manage to get so deep within me that you'll see yourself from my own and realize how far more beautiful you are. Then you'll stop wishing to see me the way you usually do and fall in love with yourself." He pointed out.

She laughed. "The thing about love is that no matter how perfect one can be, they will always find some or the other scarcity in themselves but you... You are someone who is everything and nothing at the same time. The idea of beauty is pretty but what's the point of living just with that happiness when all of it is temporary but you...you are the exact form of moksha. If only everyone was made aware that you look exact like moksha came as a form before you. The beauty of moksha itself is you. Then how is it possible to compare my beauty with your. Unlike mine, your beautiful is eternal. Just as moksha is." She answered.

And she wondered why he loved her? No one would describe him that way. She was his greatest devotee and his greatest lover at the same time. As a devotee she sang praises of him but as a lover easily gave out demands.

"How do I explain how much I wish to marry you and how much staying away from you is difficult?" 

"People say that marriage is supposed to be between equal." She turned around properly, leaning against the tree and twirling the long braid, "you maintain that I am equal to you but how am I supposed to know that you are equal to me?"

"Amma, isn't it the same thing? If one quantity is equal to the other then the opposite also means the same." Vishwaksena commented.

"No. All scaled animals are not snakes but all snakes are scaled animals." She argued back, "so, he maintains that i am equal to him but how do you know that he is equal to me? It is proven through shastras that every jeeva is a part of Narayana but is Narayana also a part of every jeeva?"

"Yes. That's the point of being the inner dweller. The indwelling part of every jeeva is Narayana." Narasimha answered. "Can't be a doubt in that."

She gave him a smile. "Good then. Let's see how this Narayana fairs against," she points to herself, "this Narayana indwelling, let's see how equal they both are."